Phantom of the Paradise (1974)
“Phantom of the Paradise” is Brian De Palma’s outrageous blend of horror, comedy and rock opera very loosely based on Gaston Leroux’s immortal novel “Phantom of the Opera”. I know it is hard to think of a musical horror movie…
Love’s Labour’s Lost-A Requiem For The Movie Theatre
On the feast of St. Valentine , I thought it appropriate to write of love. Like many love stories it has tragic overtones and like many love stories it can dwell on what once was. This is one of those…
The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre (1967)
It took me a while before I really appreciated this film. Despite its flaws, this is probably the most serious, accurate, and restrained treatment on the subject you’re ever going to get without watching a straight-out documentary. What you have…
My Bloody Valentine (1981)
Notorious for being the slasher film most tortured by the censors upon release, MY BLOODY VALENTINE has become something of a cult classic with legions of adoring fans. The only available version of this movie is missing over 9 minutes…
Black Caesar (1973)
Not one to miss on an opportunity, Larry Cohen’s second feature film utilised the explosion of blaxploitation cinema after the successes of Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (1971) and Shaft (1971), and crafted his own “black” action film, modelled on the…
The Bunco Squad (1950)
The bunco squad deals with confidence tricksters and fraudsters. In this movie they are trying to bring down a big time phoney fortune telling racket. Robert Sterling was just finding his feet in better films (“Two Faced Woman” (1941) and…
The Black Cat (1934)
BLACK CAT (1934) Starring Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, David Manners, Julie Bishop Directed by Edgar Ulmer The first film to feature both Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi, THE BLACK CAT was, and remains, innovative and strange. The opening credits claim…
The Abominable Snowman (1957)
Dr. John Rollason (Peter Cushing), his wife, Helen (Maureen Connell), and a colleague, Peter Fox (Richard Wattis), have traveled to a remote location in the Himalayas, ostensibly to study rare plant specimens. However, Helen and Peter soon learn that John…
Beyond the Time Barrier (1960)
The legendary cult director Edgar G. Ulmer certainly had made better movies than this but that doesn’t mean that this isn’t fun to some degree. The main problem is that the (lack of a) budget shows: there’s a lot more…
She Sings to the Stars – Trailer and Stills
Deadwood’s Larry Cedar in the film you’ll be raving about by year’s end, She Sings to the Stars http://shesingstothestars.com https://www.facebook.com/SheSingstotheStarsMovie Without water, a Native American grandmother continues to inhabit the desert, both ancient and alien. Her half-Hispanic grandson rushes to…
One Eyed Jacks (1961)
One-Eyed Jacks not only is a superb Western, one of my all-time favorites, it is also an excellent Oedipal drama that moves beyond the bounds of genre into the mytho-poetic. Brando and Karl Malden both turn in outstanding performances, and…
Dolemite (1975)
The blaxploitation genre certainly produced some bizarre oddities that’s for sure. Dolemite is firmly in this category. On a technical level its appalling, with bad camera work, acting, action and story. The boom mic is visible so often that it…
Nurses For Sale (1971)
The story: A captain from Hamburg brings his ship in some Latin American port. But his main cargo, sugarcane alcohol in barrels, is confiscated by customs, so he orders to dump them overboard (and at least allow some bystanders to…
Death in the Desert – Review
Death in the Desert is a love triangle set in the fast-paced, sometimes lonely world of Las Vegas. The life of Kim Davis, the young live-in girlfriend of legendary casino owner Ray Easler, is thrown upside down when she falls…
Lady Frankenstein (1971)
“I am, my father’s daughter”. She sure is! And a whole lot more! This sleazy Frankenstein imitation (of Hammer’s “The Horror of Frankenstein”) is beyond warped with its kinky fixations with seedy sex and red paint jobs (gore, of course)…
The Bat (1959)
Cornelia (Agnes Moorehead) is a mystery writer who temporarily moves into a mansion to attempt to get some work done. She later learns that the homeowner embezzled money and hid it in somewhere in the house. After he turns up…
The Time Machine (1960)
In 1960, filmmaker George Pal brought to fruition a visionary concept for a film based on a novel by H.G. Wells, about an inventor who builds a machine that enables him to travel through time, specifically into the future, where…
Night Monster (1942)
Ever spook yourself in a darkened room ? (Great fun!) Ever get spooked by inanimate objects in a room based on their shadows on the wall? (I used to have nightmares as a child (about 5 years of age) due…
A Night At A Beloved Community Movie Theatre
Last night I attended an event in support of a locally owned community movie theatre. It was a fundraiser for the programming put on by the movie theatre. As opposed to going out to large corporations to underwrite its operation,…
Reptilicus (1961)
Reptilicus is truly a bad, but fun movie to watch. From the incredibly awful monster which was photographed in such an unconvincing manner as to look exactly as big as it was (about 2 feet long) to the routine “giant…